Killer husband dead after tying wife to bed and strangling her with washing line

A murderer who strangled his wife to death over 20 years ago has died in prison. Norman Heaton was serving a life sentence for the murder of Jacqueline Heaton, 32, in South Shields, Tyneside, in May 2001. The pair were married with two sons, and Mrs Heaton had a daughter previous relationship who was 11 at the time. The Heatons' youngest child, then aged three, was in the property when the murder occurred.

Heaton tied the mum-of-three to a bed, wrapped a length of washing line round her throat and pulled it to induce unconsciousness. He claimed the killing was a tragic accident during a sex game, and he was using the washine line to provoke sexual excitement. However, a jury at Newcastle Crown Court found Heaton had continued to pull the cord tighter, intending to take her life.

There were difficulties in their marriage at the time, and the pair planned to split up. Heaton, overcome with jealousy, couldn't bear the thought of Jacqueline leaving him, so he strangled her, the court was told.

After that he stashed her body under some stairs, Chronicle Live reports.

Norman Heaton was found guilty of her murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2002. He received a minimum tariff of 10 years 11 months, according to a report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO).

He died of Bronchopneumonia aged 66 on November 2 last year at HMP Full Sutton, a men's high security prison near the town of Pocklington in York.

An inquest held on June 29, 2026, ruled that he died of natural causes. An investigation carried out by the PPO has since found that the prison delivered a good standard of care to Heaton, equivalent to what he could have expected to receive in the community.

Their report, published on July 3, said: "She (the clinical reviewer) found that the care Mr Heaton received whilst on the palliative care suite at Full Sutton was kind, compassionate, timely and appropriate.

"There was excellent multidisciplinary collaboration between the prison and external health services, and evidence documented within Mr Heaton's medical records of timely referrals, DNACPR discussions and advance care planning.

"The clinical reviewer made one recommendation not related to Mr Heaton's death that the Head of Healthcare will wish to address. The PPO investigator investigated the non-clinical issues relating to Mr Heaton's care.

"We did not find any non-clinical issues of concern. We make no recommendations."